Method and apparatus for forming unit portions of frozen food materials

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for forming pressed food products can utilize up to 98% chicken breast meat in high profit margin products. Breast meat is marinated and then extruded into a slab which is then frozen and shaped into a plank. The plank is sliced into unit portions which are then pressed into shaped portions with a preferred, or other, press. One preferred press linearly reciprocates unit portions into the press. This or another preferred press imparts three dimension exterior shape to the pressed food products.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a divisional application of pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/032,729 filed Feb. 18, 2008, now issued as U.S.Pat. No. 8,110,236.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming unitportions of frozen food materials, and at least in a particularembodiment, shaping portions of meat such as chicken breast meat into adesired configuration whereby a significantly higher yield of breastmeat from chickens can be utilized for high-quality chicken breastproducts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The applicant has significant experience in the food preparation arena.Patents for processing chicken portions include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,080,631and 5,078,644. However, in processing food particularly chicken breast,it was observed by the applicant that a normal chicken breast as takenfrom a chicken is usually cut into only six chicken breast cutlets withthe remainder of the chicken breast being utilized in other lower profitmargin chicken products. Processors would normally covet 20 to 24 oz.chicken breasts, which would then be cut into six 2.5 oz. chickenbreasts portions for a total usage of 15 of the 20 to 24 ounces. Therebya maximum utilization of this type meat product would be around 62.5 to75% at best for this high profit margin product. The remainder of thebreast meat has been utilized in the past for lower profit marginproducts.

Often the breasts are provided at 30 to 40 ounces. This translates intoa highest percentage of yield of this type product to be around 50%, andcould be as low as 37.5%. With this type product, the breast is usuallycut symmetrically down the middle. A lower portion of the breast is thencut into a first breast portion and then a portion above that is cutinto a second breast portion. The thicker of those two portions would becut in half to provide the respective six chicken portions shaped likebreasts as are often bought in the grocery store as de-boned chickenbreasts or are provided as chicken cutlets for chicken sandwiches. Theremainder of the chicken breast is then often processed into nuggets orother lower profit margin chicken products.

In the fish industry, fishermen have been preparing fillets at seaand/or at fish processing units and then freezing fish filets as blocks.A box is normally filled and frozen containing the filets forming ablock. Blocks are cut into slabs which are then cut into fish stickssuch as is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,643,952 and 3,294,012. Furthermore,frozen fish can also be processed into desired shapes as shown in U.S.Pat. No. 4,474,823.

However, in spite of this technology, there has still not been a goodway to deal with efficiently utilizing poultry breast meat. Furthermore,although efforts have been made to produce desired shapes of food suchas is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,203,838 and 6,521,280, the applicantbelieves that improvements to existing food processing equipment can beprovided over prior art designs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of at least one embodiment of the present invention toprovide an improved process and/or shaper for consistently providing adesired shape food product to the market with a higher percentage ofhigher profit margin products.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improvedprocess and/or shaping station for providing shaped food products.

It is another object of at least one embodiment of a presently preferredembodiment of the present invention to provide an improved process forutilizing a significantly higher percentage of chicken breast meat inhigher profit chicken breast portions as has been previously provided tothe market. Although chicken breast meat is a current focus of theapplicant, other meats such as beef, pork, seafood of various varietiesand even non-meat food such as vegetables, fruit or combinations ofvarious foods could be treated with the method and apparatus asdisclosed herein. Reference will be principally made throughout thisdisclosure referencing the chicken breast embodiment, but those ofordinary skill in the art will see how similar embodiments could beprovided for various other food product embodiments.

In accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, a method for processing chicken breast meat into chickenportions includes providing a split breast which has been taken from aprocessed chicken, marinating and then extruding the meat into a slaband then freezing the slab. The frozen slab is then shaped into asymmetrical plank if not already symmetrically formed and then portionsare then cut to a specific weight and shape. The cut portions are thenloaded into a magazine for feeding into a shaper where the cut portionsare shaped into a desired configuration such as the shape of a chickenbreast as would be bought in a grocery store or the shape of a chickenbreast as would be provided at a fast food restaurant as a chickenbreast for a chicken breast sandwich or other use. Of course, other foodand/or meat products can be utilized as well in other embodiments andshaped into suitable configurations.

Utilizing the applicant a rather unique shaper configuration with atleast one embodiment, which may have a double cylinder arrangement andlinearly reciprocating tray which feeds cut pre-weighed portions intothe shaper in a mold and/or other structure with at least one cavity ata shaping station. The formed product is then shaped with the moldand/or cavity. The mechanism is preferably all hydraulic and pneumaticto eliminate electrical issues which can occur in food processing plantsdue to harsh environments created during cleaning operations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The particular features and advantages of the invention as well as otherobjects will become apparent from the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a method of processing food of apresently preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective assembly view of a shaper constructed inaccordance with the presently preferred embodiment of the presentinvention as may be used in the method shown and described in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a bottom plan view of a shaping plate used with the shaperin FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a top perspective view of the shaping plate shown in FIG. 3with bottom cavity portions shown in phantom;

FIG. 5 shows a bottom plan view of a first alternative shaping plateconfiguration;

FIG. 6 shows a bottom plan view of a second alternative embodiment of ashaping plate configuration;

FIG. 7 shows a bottom plan view of a third alternative embodiment of ashaping plate configuration;

FIG. 8 shows a schematic of an internal portion of a controller shown inFIG. 2;

FIGS. 9A-9F show schematic views of the operation of the shaper of FIG.2 in operation;

FIG. 10 shows a schematic view of an alternative embodiment of a shaperimparting a top and bottom configuration to a shaped food portion aswell as conveyor means which may at least partially assist in ejectingthe meat portion from the shaper; and

FIG. 11 shows a schematic view of the shaper of FIG. 2 with analternating prefabrication shaping station.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows a presently preferred embodiment of the present inventionshowing a method of providing high quality shaped food portions to themarketplace. Specifically, the process illustrated begins at step 10where a split breast, whole butterfly or other food product is provided.The food product is preferably processed in that in the case of chicken,the feathers have been removed, it has been eviscerated and theparticular meat to be processed, in this case, the chicken breast, hasbeen removed from the bone and remainder of the chicken. For other food,such as vegetables, washing and or other processing steps may all thatmay be performed. Removal of seed pods, scales, bones, carcasses orshells may be performed for chicken and/or other food to provideprocessed food.

Meat processing usually involves hide and/or feather removal,eviscerating and at least partially butchering at least one of poultry,beef, pork, fish, or other seafood product. Other food products may betreated as would be known by those of ordinary skill in the art. Afterobtaining the food such as meat product, it is preferably marinatedeither individually or together in batch, continuous or other process instep 12. This may be optional in some processes but as it relates tomeat and in particular poultry, marinating in a solution of salt,phosphate and water has been found to assist in extracting protein to asurface of the chicken. This has been found to make the chicken somewhat“sticky” as a raw material. Other food products may not require thisstep and/or this step may be skipped in some embodiments.

Next, the food is preferably extruded into a slab at step 14 along withother similar and/or dissimilar portions of food depending on theparticular desired end product. Once a slab has been extruded, the slabin then preferably frozen in step 16. After freezing the slab, it ispreferably shaped into a plank of specific dimensions. One method ofshaping is described below with reference to FIG. 11. Other methods ofshaping may be employed with other embodiments.

Instead of providing a rectangular cross section as may be visualizedtaken from the top down as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,643,952 exceptfor the fact that fish product is not extruded but is merely frozen inblock form typically in a box, the top down cross section is anticipatedto be a non-rectangular parallelogram of a known dimension so thatpreferably all of the portions that are cut from the slab are done insuch a way that there is a minimum, if any waste. Specifically, in thefish stick business, the ends of the slab are traditionally differentlyshaped than all the intermediate portions of the slab. This irregularitycan be eliminated by the use of a parallelogram type cross section. Thelateral cross section remains rectangular in the preferred embodiment.

After forming the frozen slab, portions of the slab can be cut, or morepreferably sliced, to a specific weight and/or shape so that each of theportions have a specific weight and shape depending on the formed shapefor which they are to be provided. Portions are cut at step 20 afterbeing shaped in a plank at step 18. After cutting the portions for aspecific size and/or weight at step 20, they are then loaded into amagazine at step 22 and/or directly into a shaping station in step 24.Shaping station shapes the food item into a desired configuration asshall be shown and described in reference to the shaping station of thepresently preferred embodiment as shown in FIGS. 2-9F and describedbelow.

Although a preferred shaping station can be utilized in conjunction withthe above method, it is worth observing that any suitable alternativecan be utilized in connection with the method as shown and described inreference to FIG. 1. When utilizing this method, it is estimated that atleast about 80%, about 90%, and even up to about 98% of a chicken breastcan be shaped into high quality chicken breast meat portions. Remember,by marinating the meat, the chicken becomes somewhat sticky on thesurface. This is believed to be helpful in at least some embodiments.When a slab is cut into planks and is then cut into unit portions, thoseunit portions although possibly made up of more than one chicken breastportion are relatively securely stuck together so that when they areshaped into a chicken breast shape or other shape, the purchaser andperson eating the product should not be able to tell that the shapedproduct is comprised of more than one piece of chicken as provided tothe market place.

In the past, chicken breast meat was at best 75% utilized for 2.5 ouncechicken breast portions, wherein the applicant's preferred method it isestimated that up to 98% of the split chicken breast can be utilized forhigh quality chicken breast consumer products like 2.5 ounce chickenbreasts. As a worst case scenario, in a situation in which six 2.5 ouncebreast portions are taken from a 40 ounce split breast, less than 40%were utilized for this high quality application. Therefore, theapplicant's method providing a higher return to the food processor thanhas previously been known with prior art techniques.

The applicant's method preferably utilizes the step of extrusion into aslab prior to freezing. It may be that extruding directly into planksmay be performed and/or other technology may employed such as that shownand described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,521,280 by AEW International Limitedsuch that a slab could be sized and cut in portions of a desired weightand/or shape in other embodiments.

Additionally, the present embodiment of shaping the plank with a topdown non-rectangular parallelogram cross section having a desiredthickness so that particular cuts preferably with a knife or bladerather than a saw are known to produce a specific weight of meat andshape prior to shipping is also believed to be desirable in that thereis almost no waste. Of course, other embodiments could takenon-conforming sized portions and possibly join them together in theirown plank and then continue the processing steps to shape them into adesired configuration.

When portions are cut in step 20, it is preferred to cut with a knifetype arrangement as saws which have been previously utilized in the fishindustry are known to produce fish sawdust which is believed to waste upto 20% of the block material which cannot then be easily processed intofish portions. Extremely little waste is experienced with knife cuts.

When freezing the slabs in step 16, it is anticipated to freeze to aboutzero degrees but other temperatures useful in a particular food segmentcould be utilized. When shaping the slab into a plank at step 18, thepresently shape is somewhat like a 2×4 except that it could have otherdimensions depending on a particular outcome for a desired unit shape.

Freezing can be done by the emersion of liquid nitrogen then to amechanical freezer or a flip flop freezer and any other of the freezingtechniques which are known in the art including freeze on paper, a platefreezer, etc.

With a method similar to the preferred embodiment described above, beefcould be formed in a cube steak or a formed steak of an exact proportionutilizing a similar technique. Furthermore, turkey, veal, fish, seafood,pork or other product could be similarly shaped into a desired shape ofknown physical volume. A pork loin could be formed or any other theother desired outcome could likely be achieved.

FIG. 2 shows an assembled shaper 30 of the presently preferredembodiment of the present invention as may or may not be utilized instep 24 of FIG. 1 as shown and described above. This shaper 30 isbelieved to have desirable features in the food processing industry.

Magazine 32 preferably provides cut portions 34 which are preferablysized of a known size, shape and/or weight to feed plate 36. Feed plate36 is preferably linearly or otherwise reciprocated with drivers 38 suchas cylinders 40 connected to pistons 42. As illustrated, feed plate 36linearly reciprocates in and out relative to shaping station 50 whichwill be explained in further detail with reference to other drawings.

Limit switches 44,46 provide input to controller 80 shown in more detailin FIG. 8 which will be described in further detail below. Basically,the cut portions 34 are preferably deposited in or on the feed plate 36such as in receivers 48 at a loading station 49. Feed plate 36transports the cut portions 34 to the shaping station 50. FIGS. 9A-F areuseful in showing this process. FIG. 9A shows the cut portions 34 beingplaced in the feed plate 36. In FIG. 9B the feed plate 36 isreciprocated onto first plate 52 which may be maintained parallel tofeed plate 54 during this operation. Shaped product 56 may be ejected aswill be explained in further detail below such as with a leading edge 58of feed plate 36 in this presently preferred embodiment.

In FIG. 9C, the first plate 52 is lowered such as with one or morecylinders 58,60 so that the cut portions 34 remain in the shapingstation 50 while the first plate 36 is retracted towards the loadconfiguration shown in FIG. 9A.

In the presently preferred embodiment, with a two cylinder 58,60construction, both cylinders are at least partially, if not fully,retracted when in the configuration shown in 9C. At least one of the twocylinders then start extending after the end 58 has cleared the shapingstation 50. Once at least one of the two cylinder, 58,60 has extended tothe desired length of extension with rods 62 (the other rod not shown),the first plate 52 is preferably disposed against second plate 64 undera desired pressure to cause the cut portions 34 to conform to apredetermined exterior shape at least similar to the cavity 66 such asunder about 1,000 psi or other appropriate pressure. After shaping tothe configuration as shown in FIG. 9D, at least one of the two cylinders58,60 begins to retract to the retracted position thereby lowering thefirst plate 52. Meanwhile, strike plate 68 is preferably moved relativeto stationary plate 70 and/or second plate 64 so that pins 72 may extenddownwardly into at least one cavity 66 to dislodge shaped food item 74from cavity 66. After reaching the position shown in FIG. 7-9E which issomewhat similar to the position shown in 9A, the process can beginagain as shown in FIG. 9F with the ejection of the formed product 56.

During method of an embodiment as shown in FIG. 9A, the first cylinder58 may be extended with a second cylinder 60 retracted such as until thesupport plate 54 is lined up with the first plate 52. This would providea relatively linear surface for the feed plate 36 to slide across withlinear reciprocation of the cylinders 38. With the two cylinders 58,60retracted such as is shown in the representation of FIG. 9C, there ispreferably sufficient clearance for feed plate 36 to be retracted out ofthe shaping station 50 so that the loaded cut portions 34 can remain inthe shaping station 50. With the feed plate 36 retracted out of the way,one or both cylinders can extend a desired amount such as to fullyextend as shown in FIG. 9D to provide shaped product 56. Then at leastone of the two cylinders 58,60 can then begin to be retracted until thefirst plate 52 becomes level with the feed plate 54. As shown in FIG.9E, the strike plate 68 can be utilized against pins 72 to at leastpartially assist in ejecting the shaped food portions 56 from the cavity66 in this embodiment. Hydraulics are preferably provided to cylinders58,60 although pneumatics or other drivers could also be utilized forthat purpose. Relay switches 44,46 as well as switches 76,78 andpossibly others preferably provide input to controller 80. One or morecylinders 58,60 could be utilized in other embodiments.

The internals of controller 80 of the presently preferred embodiment areshown in FIG. 8 which provide input to relays 82,84,86,88,90,92,94 sothat a sequence of events occurs every time. Specifically, with thepreferred embodiment cylinders 58,60 are fully extended. Limit switch 77is preferably contacted in the presently preferred embodiment whichsupplies instruction to at least one relay 82,84,86,88,90,92,94 for atleast one of the cylinders 58,60 to begin retraction. As one or morecylinder retracts, the strike plate 68 can contact pin 72 to dislodgethe shaped portions 56 from cavity 66. On the down stroke, after theswitch 79 is contacted switch 78 may be contacted and/or other switch tothereby indicate that the first plate 52 is level with feed plate 54which can then start the process of cycling a loaded feed plate 36 intothe shaping station 50. After limit switch 44 is contacted, the secondcylinder 60 can retract cylinder 62 to clear the loaded cut portions 34shown in FIG. 9C. Once the second switch 76 is contacted, the feed plate36 can be retracted back out to the position shown in FIG. 2 to contactlimit switch 46 which can start the process of extending one or bothcylinders 58,60 until one or more limit switches is contacted again.Then the pneumatic sequence can continue again through the variousrelays. Other embodiments may employ more or fewer switchables, relaysor other components.

In the illustrated embodiment, relays 82,84,86,88,90,92,94 controloperated valves for operation of various pneumatic and/or hydrauliccompositions such as cylinders 58,60 and/or cylinder 38. Cabinet 102 isuseful to protect all these interior components during cleaning. Ascarcity of electrical components (i.e., none in the presently preferredembodiment) makes the shaper 30 particularly attractive for hazardouscleaning environments such as are often found in poultry processingplants.

FIGS. 5,6 and 7 show alternative embodiments of the second plate 64 asshown in FIGS. 3 and 4 with pins 72 which may be utilized for ejectionpurposes from cavities 66. The embodiment shown in FIG. 3 is a breastconfiguration. FIG. 5 shows a butterfly or double breast configuration.FIG. 6 shows a thigh configuration and FIG. 7 shows a nugget or cubeconfiguration. Other configurations could be a stick configuration, porkloin configuration, pork chop configuration, steak configuration, shrimpconfiguration or other desired shape of product based on the particulardesires of the manufacturer. One or more pin 72 extends through cavities66 during ejection and are preferably spring loaded or otherwiseresiliently biased with one or more springs 106 so that they do notinterfere with the shaping process. When the strike plate 68 contactspin(s) 72 at a sufficient force to overcome a resiliency of the springs106, pin(s) 72 extend down into the cavity 66 typically to assist in theejection of a shaped product 56.

FIG. 10 shows a schematic of an alternative configuration of a shaper120. Shaper 120 preferably has a first plate 122 with cavity portion(s)124 formed therein. Conveyor 126 preferably travels proximate to thisbottom mold or first plate 122 to bring cut portions 128 from a magazine130 into a shaping station 132. Once the cut portions 128 are in theshaping station 132, second plate 134 with cavities disposed therein maybe downwardly directed so that the cut portions 128 are shaped betweenrespective cavities 124 and 136 into a desired configuration. Aftershaping to the desired configuration, the second plate 134 may beretracted by cylinder 135. Any shaped portion remaining in cavity 136may be ejected preferably with a pin assembly such as with a strikeplate technique possibly not too different from that shown in theembodiments of FIGS. 2-9. Additionally, conveyor 126 may preferably beat least resilient enough so that it conforms at least partially to thecavities 124 of the first plate 122. As the second plate 134 isretracted away, conveyor 126 can then move and/or resiliently resumeposition to assist in removing shaped portions from cavities 124. Inthis manner, the shaped food portions can have not only a shaped upperand/or side surface(s) conforming to a desired shape such as cutletshave been provided with other prior art techniques but also have ashaped bottom surface. This results in items that are not necessarilyall planar on one side. These products can more closely resemble actualdimensions and/or shape of the intended shape such as a breast, doublebreast, thigh portion, etc., as so desired, particularly if those shapesare not in fact all planar on one side.

FIG. 11 shows yet another shaper 200 in the presently preferredembodiment specifically first press plate. First plate 202 may moverelative to second press plate 204 to shape slabs 206,208 therebetween.First plate 202 may have extensions 210,212 which may assist inproviding ends 214,216 at an angle other than 90 degrees with the shapedslabs 206,208 of the preferred embodiment. As one can see, a crosssection taken from a top down view of the shaped slabs 206,208 is thatof a parallelogram and non-rectangular. The cross section taken alongthe lateral direction 210 through slab 206 remains a rectangular crosssection in a preferred embodiment. The lateral direction 210 isillustrated perpendicular to the lateral axis 218 taken through theplank 206.

Slides can be utilized providing the shaped slab 206,208 configurations.Of course, in other embodiments, slides to at least assist in couldenter from the left and right sides in addition to the front and back toprovide the desired shape without the extensions 210,212 or extensions226,228 illustrated. Divider 224 is illustrated fixed to second plate204, but as one skilled in the art can see, these shaped slabs 206,208could be created with two or more slides 220,224 to provide shaped slabs206,208. Functionally, at least some of the shaper 200 can worksimilarly or dissimilarly to shapers 120 and/or 30.

Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will suggestthemselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understoodthat the present disclosure relates to the preferred embodiment of theinvention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to beconstrued as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications whichdo not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to beincluded within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what is claimedherein is:
 1. A shaper for use in food processing operations for shapingfrozen food into shaped food, said shaper comprising: a loading stationreceiving first and second frozen unit portions of one of apredetermined volume and weight stacked in a magazine; a shaping stationspaced from the loading station; and a feed tray linearly reciprocatableintermediate the loading station and the shaping station; wherein thefirst and second frozen unit portions are simultaneously provided as cutunit portions into spaced apart cavities in the feed tray from above atthe loading station and then moved with the feed tray into the shapingstation; the cut unit portions remain at the shaping station while thefeed tray retracts out of the shaping station toward the loading stationand first and second shaped portions are simultaneously shaped from theunit portions with first and second opposing mold portions at theshaping station, wherein at least the second mold plate includes atleast two cavities thereby imparting a configuration to the shapedportions so the shaped portions having a predetermined exterior shape,and wherein the feed tray has a leading edge which simultaneouslycontacts the at least two shaped portions when moving the feed tray intothe shaping station thereby discharging the shaped portions from theshaping station.
 2. The shaper of claim 1 wherein the magazine feedsstacked unit portions into the feed tray at the loading station.
 3. Theshaper of claim 1 wherein the second mold portion at the shaping stationhas two cavities, each cavity resembling at least a portion of a chickenbreast and the frozen unit portions are frozen chicken breast meat. 4.The shaper of claim 1 further comprising at least one ejector pincoupled to a first plate having the first mold portion, said ejector pinsmaller than the first mold portion; and after shaping the shapedportions, said at least one ejection pin assists in ejecting the shapedportion from the first mold portion.
 5. The shaper of claim 1 furthercomprising at least one slide which moves perpendicularly to a directionof relative movement between the first and second mold portions andassists in providing the shaped portions.
 6. A food shaper comprising: aloading station receiving individual frozen unit food portions of apredetermined dimension from a magazine directing one food portion perfeeder cavity; a shaping station spaced from the loading station; alinearly directed feeder moving the individual frozen unit food portionsin respective feeder cavities of the feeder from the loading station tothe shaping station wherein the shaping station has a first plate and asecond plate opposite the feeder from the first plate and wherein thefirst and second plates at least assist in defining at least two spacedapart mold cavities; and wherein when shaping the individual frozen unitportions into shaped portions, the feeder simultaneously deposits firstand second unit food portions to at least partially conform to a shapeof the respective mold cavities with the individual frozen unit portionsextending at least partially into the mold cavities until shaped intothe shaped portions with the feeder spaced from the mold cavities whilethe individual frozen unit portions are simultaneously being shaped bythe mold cavities into first and second spaced apart shaped portions;and then the feeder at least assists in ejecting the shaped portionsfrom the shaping station, wherein the feeder has a leading edge whichsimultaneously contacts the first and the second shaped portions whenmoving the feed tray into the shaping station thereby discharging theshaped portions from the shaping station.